Month: March 2020

California preparing for worst case scenarios

newsom
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks to reporters in Sacramento Thursday, March 12.
(Rich Pedroncelli/ ASSOCIATED PRESS)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – It’s likely “few if any” California schools will reopen before summer break, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday as he provided a stark assessment of the implications from the spreading coronavirus that threatens to overwhelm the state’s hospitals and drain its spending reserves.

While urging Californians to stay united and promising “we will get back to the life that we have lived,” Newsom also acknowledged much is unknown and so the state is preparing for frightening worst-case scenarios. He put the California National Guard on alert for duties that include humanitarian missions like ensuring proper food distribution and public safety as some grocery stores resorted to rationing to control panic buying.

He said the state is acquiring two vacant hospitals to beef up capacity as it faces the possibility of a surge of hospital patients. California also is negotiating with about 900 hotels to acquire tens of thousands of rooms that could be used for hospital patients and for the homeless, a group particularly susceptible to coronavirus, which is spread by coughs and sneezes.

The virus is affecting every aspect of life in California and is devastating many of the state’s key industries.

With the state’s reserves approaching $21 billion, Newsom said the state has more money in its savings account than ever before. But he warned that “the magnitude of this moment may exceed those reserves.”

Covid19

COVID1
Coronavirus might be the greatest teacher of your lifetime.

If you’re angry about people hoarding supplies and price gouging vulnerable communities when they know they’re down, maybe now you understand what it’s like to need insulin that costs $6 a bottle but is sold without insurance for $300.

If you’re surprised at how easy it was to cut back on excess meetings, now you understand how much time we waste on work that doesn’t actually help anyone but wastes all our time.

If your company found a way in under a week to help everyone work from home, maybe you’ll consider that companies could have been doing that for disabled employees the whole time but chose not to.

If you’re disappointed that you cannot get tested for the virus when other first world nations are doing it easily, maybe now you understand that socially progressive policies are designed to help in times of crisis, because it’s important to prepare for the worst rather than voting like nothing bad will ever happen.

If you’re upset at how badly the government has bungled getting you accurate, vital information, maybe now you understand the importance of supporting people with knowledge and experience rather than novelty choices that ‘seem different’.

If you’re worried about how you’re going to make ends meet because your company cut your hours, or laid you off, now you understand the fear and worry that low-wage workers face when we slash their safety nets to make life more comfortable for big businesses.

If you think it’s scary that going outside feels like a constant risk and you never know what might happen to you or your family, now you might understand the plight that immigrants and refugees feel, and what might make them flee to somewhere where things are more under control, even if they’re not ‘allowed’ to.

And if you think it’s impressive how many of your neighbors have stepped up to make grocery store runs, babysit kids, or provide meals to people in their neighborhood, now you might have a true sense of what the world could look like if we all stopped living in our own little bubbles and learned to strengthen the invisible ties that bind us all.

The lessons are out there. As bad as it might get, you can choose to learn from it, or not. It’s your call.